Gymnastics team is hoping for a history-making season
By: Rich Fisher
At the conclusion of last season, South Brunswick High gymnastics coach Erika Perjesy felt that if the Vikings could not qualify for the state meet as a team this year, they never would.
Nothing has happened since last November to change her mind.
The second-year coach, who will kick off the season as a newlywed when she ties the knot Friday night, feels that without question the Vikings and perennial power Bishop Ahr are the class of the Greater Middlesex Conference. And SBHS could make some waves even beyond the county shores.
"Last year was a great season, and knowing who I was working with at the middle school, and with a lot of the seniors we have back, I’m really excited and so are they," said Perjesy, whose team opens Sept. 14 with a home meet against Piscataway. "They know the skill level we have on this team. At the end of last year I said ‘I can’t wait until next year.’ It’s finally here, and I’m seeing skills, I’m seeing the attitudes that ‘I can do it, or I’ll have it.’
"People have more confidence. Some girls have made some (private) gym changes, some picked up where they left off. So I’m not stressing at all. I don’t feel like we’re going to start over. When they came in the gym the first day, it was like they never left."
The Vikings are coming off a season in which they were 7-2 overall and 6-1 in the GMC. They finished second to Bishop Ahr in the GMC meet and had the 12th best overall score in the state sectional meet. Two gymnasts qualified for sectionals in all-around and four others qualified for a total of nine events.
Not only are all the sectional qualifiers back, but so too is Ellise Kaplowitz, who sat out most of last season after getting ankle surgery. And two high-level freshman coming up from Crossroads will bolster the talent level even further.
"Ellise is back and she’s healthy," Perjesy said of her two-time state qualifier. "We’re excited that she’s back and she’s had enough time to heal and enough time at practice. She got right back into it after her surgery."
A total of 21 girls tried out and Perjesy kept all of them.
"I told them I’d try my best to rotate the schedule during meets, but we want to qualify for states as a team so I’ll have to use my four best all-around girls and leave the fifth spot open," the second-year coach said. "I have 10 freshmen and I didn’t want to cut anybody. We graduate 10 girls after this year and only have two juniors and a sophomore, so I want the freshman to keep things going after this year.
The senior class includes Jess Attardo (floor), Lisa Bondi (floor, beam), Sarah Caputo (all-around), Becca Castagnola (all-around) Michelle Davies (floor, possibly beam and vault), Kaplowitz (all-around), Kristen Kirbos (floor, beam), Carissa Macay (all-around), Chrissy Saragnese (floor, vault, beam) and Rachel Thompson (beam, bars, vault).
The junior class consists of Chelsea Reilly (floor, beam) and Arielle Lopez (beam, bars), while the sophomore "class" is small but talented with Marisa Liptak. Macay and Liptak were both all-around sectional qualifiers last year, and Liptak qualified for bars in states.
Perjesy wondered if Liptak might forego high school gymnastics to concentrate on club, but was pleasantly surprised to get her back.
The freshman class features Megan Baguchinski (floor, possibly beam and vault), Illana Berger (bars, beam, vault), Rebecca Clavin (novice all-around), Amanda Klein (floor, beam, vault), Jess Macay (varsity all-around), Shannon Martin (varsity all-around), Jenna Mayfield (novice all-around, will compete on some varsity events), and Briahn Walton (floor, vault, beam).
Perjesy said her main all-around gymnasts will be Carissa and Jess Macay, Kaplowitz, Liptak, Martin and Caputo.
"Unfortunately, with only five people competing on each event, it will be hard for them to always be all-arounders," said Perjesy, who will once again be assisted by Danielle Fiorentino and Mindy Verdarami. "But if someone is having a bad beam day or something, we have other people to fall back on.
"I know we have a well-rounded team. I can’t wait to see how things unfold."